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Mountaineers fall short in SoCon opener |
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Thursday, 29 November 2007 |
by RYAN WIXTED
Sports Editor
The Appalachian State University student body section tried everything to get into Davidson College sophomore guard Stephen Curry’s head.
The taunting, booing and chanting did not seem to work, however, as Curry scored 38 points - a Holmes Convocation record - to lead the Wildcats past Appalachian 71-60.
“Curry was just phenomenal tonight,” Mountaineers head coach Houston Fancher said. “He really carried them tonight. He was really good.”
Curry scored 26 of Davidson’s 42 points at halftime.
 Sophomore guard Ryann Abraham goes up for two of his career high 19 points in the 71-60 loss to Davidson Monday. Photo by Derek DeSha
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“He did a great job moving without the ball,” ASU sophomore guard
Kellen Brand said of guarding Curry. “The second I moved my hand he was
firing the trigger and getting the shot off.”
With the loss to Davidson, the Mountaineers fall to 3-3 overall and 0-1 in Southern Conference play.
The dominating offensive performance by Curry wasn’t the only thing that gave the Mountaineers a headache.
Davidson’s defensive double teams in the low post frustrated the Mountaineers post players all night.
“We have been seeing it all year, it’s nothing new,” Appalachian senior
forward Donte Minter said. “I don’t know how quickly we are adjusting
to it. We know it’s coming. We just have to be ready to kick it out or
make a strong power move.”
The Mountaineers were able to cut the deficit to six mid-way through
the second half, but several missed opportunities allowed Davidson to
pull away.
“In the second half, we get the game cut to six then will take an
ill-advised shot which leads to a bad transition, which gave
[Davidson’s guard] Bryant Barr a three in the corner. And then weíll
miss another shot and Curry dribbles the length of the floor, pulls up
and nails a three, [to put them up] 12,” Fancher said.
The Mountaineers struggled to get any scoring production from ASU’s two
senior post players Davis Bowne and Jeremy Clayton, as they both
combined for only four points.
“Their double teams forced us to do some uncomfortable things - it
forced us to turn the basketball over,” Fancher said. “We didn’t handle
their double teams very well in the post and we got to do a better job
than that.”
Appalachian’s sophomore guard Ryann Abraham had a career high 19 points and four assists.
Brand, the Mountaineers leading scoring so far this season, had 13 points and two assists.
Appalachian will have to pick up the pieces quickly, as they welcome
Wichita State University to the Holmes Convocation Center Thursday.
“We don’t have the luxury of being able to sit back and examine this
game over the course of the week. We got Wichita coming in here
Thursday, and we got to go to Georgia Southern on Saturday, who now is
the second best team in our league. We got to buckle down and get
better,” Fancher said.
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